The Legal Examiner Affiliate Network The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner search instagram avvo phone envelope checkmark mail-reply spinner error close The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner
Skip to main content

A suspected drunk man in an SUV plowed into a crowd in New Orleans Saturday night, injuring at least 28. The crowd was enjoying a parade in the middle of the city during the Mardi Gras celebration.

Th accident happened at one of the busiest times of Mardi Gras as thousands of people line the streets of Mid-City New Orleans to watch the floats pass by.

According to the New Orleans Police Department, the driver is suspected to have been intoxicated. At least 28 people were hurt, and 21 were taken to a nearby hospital. Five of them were in guarded condition. The victims were as young as three years old and up to adults in their 30s and 40s.

The police and witnesses stated that the SUV driver appeared to be highly intoxicated and ‘out of it.’

Our View

Our drunk driving personal injury attorneys licensed in Virginia and North Carolina are glad that no one was killed in this apparent DUI accident. Drunk driving deaths are far too common: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that 9967 people died in drunk driving crashes in 2014.  The CDC reports that more than 1.1 million drivers were arrested for drunk driving in 2014. 

Even though no one died in this tragic drunk driving wreck, there are certainly people who have been seriously injured. When pedestrians are struck by a moving vehicle, the physical and emotional trauma is often severe. It can be very important for the drunk driving victim’s ultimate recovery to file a civil lawsuit to obtain compensation for personal injuries.

Our Virginia drunk driving attorneys had a client in Norfolk who was walking out of the gym when a drunk driver literally drove onto the sidewalk and struck him. Our client had serious injuries to his lower leg. The drunk driver had a blood alcohol content of more than double the Virginia legal limit.

Our personal injury attorneys found out that the drunk driver only had $100,000 of liability coverage on her policy. We advised our client that he may be able to obtain more compensation from his own policy. By law, if another driver causes an accident with personal injury, you may receive benefits on your own uninsured driver coverage and not pay higher premiums.

Our drunk driving victim client had to have four surgeries on his leg. He suffered substantial pain, could not enjoy his daily activities for many months, and had weeks of lost work time.

We ultimately settled the Norfolk, Virginia drunk driving case for a substantial amount that was satisfactory to our client 

 

 

Comments for this article are closed.